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Real estate

Second phase of units to open in old Wonder Bread factory

View SlideshowRequest to buy this photoEamon Queeney | DISPATCH PHOTOSOne of the 66 apartments in the Wonder Bread Lofts features a vault from the Columbus Bread Co., left. The building in the Italian Village neighborhood was developed by Kevin Lykens, right.

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As symbols of rebirth go, it’s hard to top this one. Late today, Kevin Lykens plans to flip a
switch, turning on the massive Wonder Bread neon sign that has stood dark for more than four years
on N. 4th Street.

The light signifies the revitalization of a Columbus landmark, which closed in May 2009 after
more than a century turning out bread.

Lykens, owner of Lykens Cos., has spent the past year and about $6 million converting the bakery
into the Wonder Bread Lofts.

The 66 apartments carved out of the 70,000-square-foot building offer 48 layouts to fit the
jumbled old factory, which Lykens estimates has been expanded eight or 10 times from the original
structure built in the first decade of the 20th century.

“It was a pain in the butt to work this out,” said Lykens, adding that all the bakery equipment
remained in the building when he launched the project. “The building was kind of a mess.”

The project’s massive excavation unearthed an old street, along with a sinkhole and a
150-year-old brick sewer.

In addition to the walls, ceilings and beams, Lykens retained a few more obvious signs of the
building’s history such as a Columbus Bread Co. vault that now serves as a closet in one unit, and
the 12-by-3-by-4-foot rolling dough troughs that he intends to turn into planters.

The most dramatic: two first-floor courtyards created by removing two sections of the roof. The
courtyard apartments open onto the common space, which Lykens plans to furnish with tables and
chairs.

Where possible, though, Lykens kept the building intact.

“I didn’t want this to look like something brand new,” he said.

He installed garage doors in the three units opening onto the former loading dock, for example,
allowing the apartments to open entirely onto a shared patio.

Lykens opened the first phase, with 20 second-floor units, in August. He hopes to open the
second phase of 20 units this week and the final 26 apartments in October.

The first Wonder Bread tenants, Zack and Emily Rodriguez, moved from a nearby apartment, drawn
by the urban design of the complex.

“We always wanted a loft-style apartment,” Zack Rodriguez said. “We really like the high
ceilings and the giant windows.”

Rent ranges from $950 a month for studios and one-bedrooms with about 600 square feet to $2,500
for a two-floor, 1,800-square-foot two-bedroom apartment with a curved brick wall and a private
patio.

Until a few years ago, prospective tenants might have considered the location, on the eastern
edge of the Italian Village neighborhood, too removed from the hubbub of the Short North. But the
Rodriguezes said it’s a short walk to High Street, and they are enjoying a few new nightspots on N.
4th Street such as Seventh Son Brewing Co. and Little Rock Bar.

To expand the night-life options, Lykens recently bought the nearby Sunset Lounge and said he is
close to getting a restaurant into the Wonder Bread building.

Despite the forest of new apartments rising in the Downtown and Short North areas, Lykens isn’t
worried about finding tenants. His experience in managing about 450 rentals in the Short North area
convinces him that demand remains strong.

“I’m not too concerned about a growth in units now,” he said. “Eventually, you’ll see demand
taper off, I’m sure, but now we lease them as soon as they open.”